“Paying it forward” What does that phrase even mean? How does it play out in practice? The idea behind it is the person is giving to someone else, because someone else had given to him/her. It can be as simple as giving a quarter to someone for their shopping cart at Aldi, and that person giving the quarter to the next person and so on, to something a bit more complicated:

Reach One, Teach One (A Poem)

Each one teach one.
Each one reach one.
My success built upon the backs of the bruised.
All of those who fell during the struggle,
The parents, trying to carve a better way
From clay and mortar bricks,
Stacked against them with injustice
Inequality.
Using hope to frame their walks,
Doorways of work,
Foundations built upon refusal of servitude.

The burden of education rests at my feet.
Pass along the rights of passage to those after me,
So they can go beyond me.
Reach the outer galaxy,
Where I could only brush the atmosphere
with my wind tousled dreams.
They can break bread on Mars,
Hang out at bars in the stars,
They’ve been charged with holding down a legacy,
Excellence in expectancy,

Let no one’s negativity get the best of me.
Or you.
Teaching them that they’re more than a color,
More than just gender,
More.

The ties that bind
draw a line in the sand
standing room only here.
Where self-defeat isn’t an option.
Quitting is a four-letter word.
Shake break through the shackles
This is an entry for the Creative Buzz Hop. This week’s Buzz words are Paying It Forward. Feel free to link up with a post about Paying it Forward, interpreting it any way, whether it’s via poetry, an essay, photographs, etc.

To participate in this hop, you simply have to do the following:

1) Follow your hosts, Michelle at Muses from the Deep and me, Tamara from PenPaperPad.

2) Tag others to participate (do so in any way you feel comfortable)

3) Grab the Creative Buzz Hop Badge from the sidebar and put it on your site.

4) Run with the prompt in any way you feel comfortable. It can be a hilarious take, a serious reflection, a poem, story, photography. Let your creative side go!

5) Link up with us via the link at the BOTTOM of this post or at http://www.gettingliteral.com

Please check out the other pieces linked up about Paying it Forward.Aloha y’all!